Vocal Parents Don't Help Blanchet Hold Off Ingraham

"Play smart," came the exhortation from Blanchet parents, as their children began to fritter away a lead that had been 13 points with three minutes left.

But let's face it, people--asking high school basketball players to "play smart" is like asking high school musicians to "maintain your vibrato" or high school cheerleaders to "save it for marriage."

So, on our Metro League Tuesday (TM), through a series of ill-advised drives, poor passes, bad fouls and, in one case, a technical, Blanchet allowed Ingraham to outscore them 19-2 in the game's last three minutes.

In all, Ingraham managed more points in the final quarter (35) than they had scored in the first three (33).

A special shout out to Ingraham's Mike Grundy, the Rams' most active player, who hit the winning three-pointer and made a critical steal, and Jameko Gipson, who shot the clinching free throws.

Blanchet's Stephen Reinhart was the Braves' leading scorer, but he also committed a costly turnover at game's end. Monte' Brown--other than Peyton Siva and Tony Wroten, the most creative passer we've seen in Metro this year--had a solid game on both ends until a late game technical that let the Rams tie things up.

So "play smart" obviously wasn't heeded. I think next time I go to a game I'm going to heckle the parents:

"Hey, how about some positive reinforcement over here?"

"Wonder why Tyler airballed that three? Maybe because you couldn't cut short your all-important golf outing to shoot hoops with him!"

"'C'mon' is NOT constructive criticism. C'mon!"